A Filipino Student Colorized His Ancestors' Old Photos, And the Results Look Absolutely Incredible
A Facebook post by Wilfredo Dauis II of his grandmother's class picture in 1959 caught the attention of the internet since he restored and colorized the photo. Dauis, a student from Batangas, brought life back to his 71-year-old grandmother Rosario Dauis' class picture back when she was 8 years old.
It was in 2018 that Dauis started restoring photos using digital applications like Adobe Photoshop. As a history buff, he studied colors from different decades to be as historically accurate as possible when it comes to colorizing old photos. On Dauis' Facebook, you'll see several other colorized photos of his ancestors, as well as historical ones too. He posts the before-and-afters of his works and puts the stories of each in captions.
Dauis is currently a fourth-year college student at Batangas State University taking up education. In an interview with Teleradyo's Lingkod Kapamilya, he said his family likes taking photos which is why he has plenty of black-and-white photos. After learning how expensive photo restoration was, he took it upon himself to learn how to do it.
The photo he restored of his grandmother brought her happiness. He's even restored photos of his ancestors from the 1930s. One that he's done is his great-grandparents' wedding in Manila in February 13, 1932. His great-grandfather is Sgt. Vicente A. Dauis whose wife is Romana Dauis.
He also posted a photo of his "kaka sa tuhod" or great aunt Feliza Aniversario Dauis from the 1920s.
Dauis explained his process when it comes to restoring photos. "Sinisimulan ko po yung paglilinis sa mismong picture by the use of cotton with alcohol," he told Teleradyo. After cleaning the black-and-white photo, he scans it and blows it up to a higher resolution. Then, he fixes the digital photo using Adobe Photoshop and other editing applications. It usually takes him a few weeks before finishing one photo up.
"Una ko po diyan kinukulayan yung mga skin tone po nila, faces. Kasi sa faces po maraming features. Meron pong mga lips, meron pang mga cheeks po, at saka yung mga eyes. Mano-mano ko po iyan kinukulayan para at least makuha ko po yung kaliit-liitang details na nilalaman ng isang picture."
He says he studied colors based on each photos' eras. "Katulad naman po ni Lola, medyo natatandaan po niya yung kulay ng mga suot nila way back then. Ginagawa ko pong pattern para, at least, guided po ako sa pagkukulay. Para, at least, hindi malayo, parang iyon pa rin ang quality ng pictures na nakuhanan noon at in-edit ko ngayon."
Since posting, people have also contacted him to fix their old photos. So, expect to see more from him. He does have advice for anyone interested in photo restoration, though.
"Pag-aralan natin kung ano ang ayos ng mga pictures na ire-restore natin kasi tayo po ang magtutuloy sa pinakaalaala ng susunod na generation. Tayo po ang mag-aayos ng mga pictures at tayo rin po ang magpe-preserve. Ipagpatuloy ang pag-e-edit. Makulay ang kahapon. Kailangang ayusin sa ngayon."
From: PEP.ph
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